Sony in Japan today officially announced Sony’s new Xperia Tablet Z tablet. The tablet is tipped to enter the Japanese market this spring and promises to be semi-rugged.

The tablet promises to be waterproof and dustproof while being impressively thin at 6.9 mm thick (thinner than the anorexic iPad mini). Sony also says the tablet is light at about 495 g. The Tablet Z will have a 10.1-inch screen sporting WUXGA resolution using the Mobile Bravia Engine 2 for high-quality images.

The new tablet will have an 8.1 megapixel camera using an Exmor R CMOS sensor. The fancy camera on the tablet is able to automatically recognize the scene and adjust exposures automatically so they come out with high quality in dark. The camera also has an Auto Low Premium feature that selects optimal settings automatically for the best images in dark environments.

The Xperia Tablet Z features S-Force Front Surround 3-D virtual sound technology, and has integrated Near Field Communication technology allowing users to share photos and video with other Xperia smartphone and tablet users at the touch of a button. This NFC transport feature can also be used to share music.

Other hardware features of the tablet include Android 4.1 and a quad-core 1.5 GHz processor. The tablet also has integrated LTE technology and will be available in black or white colors. Pricing is unannounced at this time.

Sony also recently revealed its gorgeous Xperia Z smartphone which features a 5” 1080p display.

Actually, that's not quite accurate. If it does indeed have 32gb of onboard storage, and LTE, it will be competing with the 729 dollar ipad, which has a slower processor, a smaller screen, and an inferior camera, not to mention that it’s 4 millimeters thicker and susceptible to water damage. I think it's clear where the obvious advantage is, fanboys.

"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA